Defence minister decries late release of funds

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has identified late release of funds as a major problem facing the operations of the defence sector.

The minister also said that fund provided as overhead cost was inadequate to provide the expected services of the ministry.

The minister said this while hosting the members of the SenateCommittee on Defence led byits Chairman, Senator Ahmad Lawan, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Dan-Ali said the sum of N1.025bn was provided for the Brigade of Guards in the 2016 Appropriation when the actual expenditure was N1.3bn.

He said, “Late release of funds has been the major challenge facing the ministry in carrying out its mandate.

“Secondly, the overhead cost is inadequate to maintain the essential services of the ministry.

“A case in point is the sum of N1.025bn only provided for the Brigade of Guards in the 2016 appropriation while the actual expenditure as of now is over N1.3bn.”

The minister said of the approved budget of N1.6bn for overhead, N1.5bn representing 96 percent had been released as of Oct. 31, 2016.

He stated further that the sum of N6.7bn was released to the ministry out of the approved budget of N9.5bn for capital projects which he put at 71 percent.

He said that it was the intention of the ministry to meter all barracks in the country from 2017 on zonal basis.

Speaking also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence said that no amount of monetary provisions would be too much for the ministry in view of its sensitive security responsibility to the country.

Similarly, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, had said that the military would always defend the territorial integrity of the country in spite of the dwindling economic resources in the country.

Olonisakin commended the President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s,for providing the necessary resources for the military to carry out its constitutional responsibilities in spite of the current economic situation in the country.